History of the Kudarung
by valafatoren
Summary: "This is the original story. It's not just myth and fabrications, as creation stories commonly are, imagined by people in order to explain something. It is the history of the raka people and the magical winged horses called the Kudarung, and how they gained their wings." Written for mistrali


" _In a Time of Fear, the One Who I Promised will come to the raka, bearing glory in her train and justice in her hand. She will restore the god to his proper temple and his children to her right hand. She will be twice royal, wise and beloved, a living emblem of truth to her people. She will be attended by the wise one, the cunning one, the strong one, the warrior, and the crows. She will give a home to all, and the Kudarung will fly in her honor._ "

—Kyprish Prophecy, written in the year 200 H.E.

The story of the Kudarung and the raka queens has been long told. Passed by mouth to mouth, generation after generations of our people hearing the story. Things change when they are retold, actions are exaggerated, reasons changed so we can make more sense out of them, the truth softened so young'uns can understand and hear it too.

This is the original story. It's not just myth and fabrications, as creation stories commonly are, imagined by people in order to explain something. It is the history of the raka people and the magical winged horses called the Kudarung, and how they gained their wings.

It began thousands of years ago. The raka people had a Queen and she was beloved by all except the invaders, the white people, the luarin. But, as they were not the original owners of the land, they too had to bow down to her, and listen to her decrees. This was before the Luarin Conquest, which was to happen in 174 HE, and before the prophecy existed.

In that time, there was no such thing as the Kudarung, and horses were sacred and the raka did not kill or abuse them. It was said that the Queen loved them and they came to her and did her bidding, and would carry her on their backs everywhere. They would voluntarily help the raka people with daily work, carrying heavy loads as well as the people to places quickly. The world was peaceful and they lived side by side, helping each other.

Now, the luarin saw this and thought that it was an ingenious idea and tried to capture the horses to work for them. The horses would not help them for they could sense that the actions were selfish, and that they would be treated as slaves, not as companions working together. In his anger, the luarin ruler ordered all horses to be slaughtered and killed on sight. If he could not have them work for him, then no one would.

The Queen tried to overrule his decision, but the luarin people would not listen to her, but instead obeyed their leader and slaughtered the horses.

Thousands of them died painful deaths at the hands of the luarin, and the Queen mourned them deeply, and felt obligated to help in her mind as well as in her heart. She knew only divine intervention would save them, so she prayed for all the horses' safety and Kypriotha, upon hearing her pleas, gave the horses wings so they could soar into the sky whenever a luarin came near. Some of them denied his gift and remained the same. Some of them wanted to be even safer, so asked to become as small as the palm of your hand so they could hide easily.

When Kypriotha was done, the winged horses and ponies felt different and more magical. They changed their name to 'Kudarung' and have been called that ever since. The Kudarung never forgot who helped them in the first place: the raka Queen and always come willingly to help her in her times of need. As they are Immortal, and the Queen not, she was bound to die eventually. But the Kudarung's loyalty did not falter and they continued to serve all the raka Queens and it was said from then on that the true ruler was the one that controlled the Kudarung.

The Kudarung would always come to the ruler, just as they came to Dove, the twice royal queen. They flew her to safety, without any human encouragement, and then flew in her honor above the battle.

And in the words of Ulasim, how glorious and bright the future would be. The twice royal queen has come, and the Kudarung will fly among us once more.


End file.
